Pakistan Promises Nationality for Pakistan-born Afghan Refugees

September 17, 2018AfghanistanComments Off on Pakistan Promises Nationality for Pakistan-born Afghan Refugees2,728 Views

KARACHI – Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, said that all Pakistan-born Afghan and Bangladeshi refugees would be granted Pakistani nationality. He made the remarks during his maiden visit to Karachi on Sunday.
“Children of Afghan and Bengali refugees and migrant workers in Pakistan would get Pakistani passports and identity cards,” he said on during his speech.
Khan made the announcement at a fund-raising dinner in the port city of Karachi, hours after the four provinces voiced their unwillingness to accommodate undocumented Afghan refugees.
At an inter-ministerial meeting, provincial representatives cited security concerns while refusing to let in illegal Afghans.
“These people, who are originally from Afghanistan, do not get passports or ID cards,” the prime minister said, adding his government would give them nationality.
“When those who were born and grew up in Pakistan don’t get jobs for want of identity cards, they indulge in crimes,” he said. Those living in Pakistan for more than 40 years would be issued identity cards and passports, he concluded.
Calling it an established practice in countries around the world, Imran Khan said Afghans whose children have been raised and born in Pakistan will be granted citizenship.
He said the refugees have been unable to find decent legal jobs or get a quality which eventually forces them to indulge in criminal activities.
Imran Khan also vowed that he would instruct his staff to make efforts without further delay for offering passports and National Identity Cards to the refugees who have come from Afghanistan and whose children are raised and born in Pakistan.
According to reports, millions of Afghan refugees are still based in Pakistan out of which around 1.5 million legally reside in the country.
According to the survey reports by the United Nations, at least 60 percent of Afghan refugees were either born in Pakistan or were minors when their parents migrated to the country.
As per UNHCR, Pakistan is hosting the largest number of refugees globally, which number more than 1.45 million in the country, and most of them hail from Afghanistan.
Since March 2002, UNHCR has facilitated the return of approximately 4.1 million registered Afghans from Pakistan, it underlined.
(Sahar News)